The Indiana High School Athletic Association announced the pairings Sunday evening for the 34th annual softball state tournament.
The tournament will start May 21 and feature 379 teams playing at 64 sites.
Sectionals will be held May 21-26, with the winners playing in one-game regionals on May 29. Four-team semistates are slated for June 2, while the state championship games will be played June 9 at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium.
Of the six softball teams in the Times-Union coverage area, two enter this year’s state tournament as defending sectional champions.
The Whitko Lady Wildcats, who advanced to the semistate championship game a year ago, will play in Class 2A Sectional 37 at Oak Hill High School.
Whitko, currently 11-2, drew a bye in the six-team field and will play conference foe Wabash in the semifinals.
Oak Hill will play Rochester in the first round, while Manchester will play Cass. The winners of those games will square off in the semifinals.
The Wawasee Lady Warriors, who fell in the semistate semifinals in 2017, are the defending champions of Class 3A Sectional 21, which will be hosted this year by Fairfield.
Wawasee, currently 5-7, drew a bye in the five-team field and will play the winner of the opening game, which pits Fairfield against Tippecanoe Valley.
Lakeland will play West Noble in the other first round game.
In Class 4A Sectional 4 at Elkhart Memorial, the Warsaw Lady Tigers will open play against Elkhart Central.
Memorial and Goshen play in the other first-round game.
First-round winners will play in the semifinals, with the other semifinal round game featuring Northridge and Concord.
The Triton Lady Trojans will host the six-team 1A Sectional 51.
Triton will open play against Argos, while Culver Community will square off with LaCrosse in the other first-round game.
First-round winners will square off in the semifinals, as will West Central and South Central.
